In 1964 a British SciFi author Eric Frank Russell (1905-1978) wrote a novel “With A Strange Device” (aka “The Mind Warpers”) which now seems to have a certain prescient relevance to concerns raised recently in the highest circles of US government about an alarming number of American scientists working on classified projects who have inexplicably gone missing, or who have died in unexplained circumstances.

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/04/21/us/deaths-disappearances-scientists-investigation

A nuclear physicist and MIT professor fatally shot outside his Massachusetts residence. A retired Air Force general missing from his New Mexico home. An aerospace engineer who disappeared during a hike in Los Angeles.

These are among at least 10 individuals connected to sensitive US nuclear and aerospace research who have died or disappeared in recent years, prompting concerns whether they are connected and fueling speculation online about the possibility of nefarious activity.

According to reports, the FBI are now leading an investigation to look for connections into the missing and deceased scientists in tandem the Department of Energy, Department of Defense, and with state and local law enforcement partners to try and find answers.

A separate investigation by the Republican House Oversight  Committee  into the same questions was announced on Monday.

The reports “raise questions about a possible sinister connection” between the deaths and disappearances, the committee said in its statement, seeking briefings on the matter from the FBI, the Defense Department, the Department of Energy and NASA.

https://oversight.house.gov/release/comer-burlison-seek-information-on-missing-nuclear-and-rocket-scientists/

In Eric Frank Russell’s novel “With A Strange Device” inexplicable numbers of US scientists working in highly classified government weapons research are abandoning their jobs and careers for completely irrational reasons, then disappearing and refusing to explain why when traced  by the authorities The story is told from the perspective of a young metallurgist called Richard Bransome working in missile research.

https://variety-sf.blogspot.com/2007/09/eric-frank-russells-with-strange-device.html

One day a conversation overheard by chance in a lunch-diner discloses that the body of a young woman he strangled years earlier has been found hidden under the roots of a fallen tree. Filled with horror, he prepares to abandon his career and family and go on the run. But there is one problem - as he belatedly discovers no such murder ever took place. It’s a completely false memory implanted and triggered by post hypnotic suggestion - the chance conversation overheard in the diner.

As an FBI agent later explains to him -  “There are two ways of weakening the enemy. You can acquire his brains for your own use or, if that proves impossible, you can deprive him of the use of them."

Eric Frank Russell explored a similar theme - i.e. the inexplicable disappearances or deaths of leading scientific researchers in an earlier novel called “Sinister Barrier” (1939). He was said to have spent WW2 working for British military intelligence on wartime deception operations like ‘Operation Mincemeat’  (‘The Man Who Never Was’)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Never_Was

Russell later wrote another novel called “Wasp” (1957) about asymmetric terrorist warfare which was said to have become part of the CIA’s training manual on this subject.

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by toucana
missing "of" in p.4

Something is definitely wrong when the real world starts imitating fiction.
So many events, lately, call reality into question.

1 hour ago, toucana said:

In 1964 a British SciFi author Eric Frank Russell (1905-1978) wrote a novel “With A Strange Device” (aka “The Mind Warpers”) which now seems to have a certain prescient relevance to concerns raised recently in the highest circles of US government about an alarming number of American scientists working on classified projects who have inexplicably gone missing, or who have died in unexplained circumstances.

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/04/21/us/deaths-disappearances-scientists-investigation

A separate investigation by the Republican House Oversight  Committee  into the same questions was announced on Monday.

In Eric Frank Russell’s novel “With A Strange Device” inexplicable numbers of US scientists working in highly classified government weapons research are abandoning their jobs and careers for completely irrational reasons, then disappearing and refusing to explain why when traced  by the authorities The story is told from the perspective of a young metallurgist called Richard Bransome working in missile research.

https://variety-sf.blogspot.com/2007/09/eric-frank-russells-with-strange-device.html

One day a conversation overheard by chance in a lunch-diner discloses that the body of a young woman he strangled years earlier has been found hidden under the roots of a fallen tree. Filled with horror, he prepares to abandon his career and family and go on the run. But there is one problem - as he belatedly discovers no such murder ever took place. It’s a completely false memory implanted and triggered by post hypnotic suggestion - the chance conversation overheard in the diner.

As an FBI agent later explains to him -  “There are two ways of weakening the enemy. You can acquire his brains for your own use or, if that proves impossible, you can deprive him of the use of them."

Eric Frank Russell explored a similar theme - i.e. the inexplicable disappearances or deaths of leading scientific researchers in an earlier novel called “Sinister Barrier” (1939). He was said to have spent WW2 working for British military intelligence on wartime deception operations like ‘Operation Mincemeat’  (‘The Man Who Never Was’)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Never_Was

Russell later wrote another novel called “Wasp” (1957) about asymmetric terrorist warfare which was said to have become part of the CIA’s training manual on this subject.

What's the evidence this is statistically significant? Could it not just be the normal incidence, given the size of these research programmes.

Hofstadter's "paranoid style" in Right wing US politics was identified over 50 years ago. It is currently in the ascendant under Trump, who has encouraged conspiracist thinking as part of his drive to gaslight and bamboozle the public. We've just seen Trump announcing he's releasing a load of UFO "files", which is another load of distracting codswallop designed to make people distrust "elites", suspect conspiracies - and look in the wrong direction.

In such a climate, it is any wonder that a Republican politician starts yet another hare running? It could either be a deliberate ploy or simply genuine concern on his part, if he has himself become paranoid enough as a result of all this conspiracist campaigning.